Heart Held By Red
by shiki94
Summary: Even though Jeremiah Crane still wore the necklace Catrina gave him months ago, that didn't mean he still loved her or anything. He moved on from her, and he was happy with the woman he was with now in Ivelisse Velez, the Baddest woman around. Jeremiah CranexIvelisse past/current relationship and romance Rated T for mild swearing. *Loose sequel to Saved By The Dark*.


***walks over to my plot bunny hutch, opens the door, and lets plot bunny for this one-shot out* Be free, little baby plot bunny! *clears my throat* Happy Holidays and Merry almost-Christmas, dear readers! Today, I come bearing another fic offering with a new ship that's been in my mental harbor for some time now, in Jeremiah Crane (better known to the wrestling word as Sami Callihan) and Ivelisse. Now, while I've had this ship docked in my mental harbor for some time now, I've only had a couple of vignettes and some in-ring interactions between the duo to really inspire me to write these two together. ...Then, as I was reading over one of my other Lucha Underground one-shots and chatting with a reader that read that one-shot, one thing we talked about was how it seemed like Ivelisse and Jeremiah seem like a better fit for each other (since, technically, we _did_ see them together first on TV). So, that chat coupled together with my own thinking helped give birth to this one-shot here! ^^ I hope that everyone that gives this a read enjoys it. =)**

 **(Disclaimer: I do not own any of the wrestlers used and/or mentioned in this fic. They are the properties of themselves, Lucha Underground, and the other promotions they wrestle for (in the cases of Jeremiah and Ivelisse). I only own the ideas going into this.)**

Jeremiah Crane just had to shake away the little seeds of doubt that Catrina tried to plant in his head. _He just had to!_ It really didn't matter that he had something in the way of history with Catrina. He moved on from her. He was with Ivelisse now, and he was happy with her. ...Hell, he'd even go so far as to say that he actually grown to _love_ the redheaded Puerto Rican after all the time he had spent together with her. There was just something about her fairly fiery-like her hair now-and bold nature that seemed to draw Jeremiah to her. The brunette had only known Ivelisse for six months now, but now that he was with her, he didn't want ever to want to see himself leaving her. As Jeremiah sat on the workout bench, he let himself think back to when he first met the woman that he felt truly held his heart.

...

 _Six Months Earlier_

Taking a seat on a stool that surrounded the bar at one of his favorite bars, Jeremiah sat in wait of when he could get the bartender's attention. It had been about a month now that he "left" his old girlfriend Catrina, but when he found out that she was seeing someone else behind his back, the brunette felt the need to get out while he could. After all, _no one_ was going to walk all over his heart and toy with his emotions.

So here he sat. In a bar. All by his lonesome. Just wanting to drown his hurt in whatever kind of booze he had a taste for and maybe listen to whatever was playing on the jukebox.

As he prepared to order a drink, Jeremiah found his gaze caught by a flash of red. Turning to see just where the red was coming from, the brunette found himself staring at a woman...a rather cute woman at that. While she was somewhat on the short side, Jeremiah noticed that she carried herself with a sense of confidence, one that almost seemed to say "Mess with me, and I'll kick your ass". The brunette was so lost in his look-over of the woman that he didn't even register the bartender trying to get his attention until he heard knocking on the table in front of him. Snapping out of his daze, Jeremiah turned and said "My bad, Charlie. Sorry about that. Um, I'll have my usual. One Scotch & Soda, please."

As he put a few ice cubes in a highball glass, Charlie asked "So, what's your deal, Jeremiah? You curious about Ivey over there?" before pouring scotch in the glass.

"Ivey? That's her name?" Jeremiah asked, quirking an eyebrow at hearing this.

"Well, that's just a nickname me and some other regulars here call her. Her full name's Ivelisse Vélez. And, from what I know of her, she's actually pretty famous," Charlie had poured in some club soda now to finish the drink.

"Really? What exactly is she famous for? She a model or something?" Jeremiah asked.

"Hell, no," Charlie laughed. "Ivey's a pro wrestler. And a damn good one from what I've seen of her."

"You don't say," Jeremiah's curiosity being piqued at hearing this. There was actually some part of the brunette male that was always drawn to the sport of professional wrestling as seeing people hurt other people, sometimes in pretty brutal ways, actually seemed like something he'd like to do. After all, he _did_ take down four guys all on his own as revenge for them beating him nearly to death, so getting paid to beat people up sounded like fun to the brunette.

Seeing how Jeremiah was looking at Ivelisse, Charlie said "Why don't you go talk to Ivey? It's not like she'll hurt you if you talk to her...much."

"You know? I think I just might," Jeremiah grinned a bit as he grabbed his drink and rose from his seat. "Wish me luck, Charlie."

"Good luck, Jeremiah. Don't hesitate to scream if she tries to kick your ass," Charlie offered up as encouragement with a bit of a laugh.

Jeremiah only raised his glass in a "Cheers" gesture before walking over to where Ivelisse was, which was at the billiards table. As he got closer, the brunette couldn't help but do another once-over of the redhead: While the brunette had only been taking note of Ivelisse's looks before, he couldn't help but notice now that the fair Ms. Vélez was definitely cuter than his original once-over seemed to dictate. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was dressed in a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a peach-colored blouse, and a pair of black sandals. _'Such a cute little thing. Shame she's here all by herself,'_ Jeremiah thought as he finally reached the table.

Getting in position so that she could hit one of the remaining five balls into one of the pockets, Ivelisse couldn't help but get the feeling that a pair of eyes were on her. Turning around, the redhead was rewarded with the sight of a brunette man clad in a black leather jacket, a black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black boots holding a drink standing on the opposite side of the table. Standing as she held her billiards cue beside her, Ivelisse asked "Um, do you mind? I'm trying to play a game here."

"I can see that," Jeremiah agreed with the redhead's statement. Pointing at the table, Jeremiah said "Pretty impressive that you knocked so many balls in already. I've never seen such a lovely lady so good at the fine sport of pool."

Shrugging as a grin started to cross her face, Ivelisse said "What can I say? Pool is a pretty easy sport that you can play on your own, so I like playing it", although it wasn't lost on the redhead that this brunette stranger called her a "lovely lady", as evidenced by the slight warmth that seemed to build in her cheeks.

"Definitely looks like you're having fun over here," Jeremiah grinned before his grin dropped a bit and he asked "But, what's a lady like you doing here all by your lonesome? Surely, you have a boyfriend, don't you?"

"Nope. Not anymore. I haven't really been with anyone for a few months now," Ivelisse shook her head. "I guess I'm just a bit too intense for people."

As Jeremiah listened to Ivelisse talk now, he couldn't help but notice the slight change in the shorter woman's body language; wherein not too long ago Ivelisse seemed so sure of herself, it seemed like talking about her most recent breakup caused her to have something in the way of a personality shift as she twirled the cue stick around between her hands and a slightly sullen look seemed to cross her face as evidenced by the slight pout that tugged at her lips.

"Well, if I can say something, I think your ex is a bit of an ass to dump you." Walking around to Ivelisse's side of the table, Jeremiah took a lock of Ivelisse's red hair in between his fingers as he said "Can't imagine why _anyone_ would ever want to dump a woman as intense as you are."

Blushing a bit as an involuntary shiver went up her spine, Ivelisse let out a nervous laugh before saying "What can I say? I guess people just can't handle me."

"Maybe that's because you haven't met the right person yet," Jeremiah said, his grin fully back in place.

"And I suppose _you_ think you're the right person?" Ivelisse cocked a curious eyebrow.

"Perhaps," Jeremiah shrugged. "All you have to do is give me a chance, and...maybe I could show you."

Biting her lip, Ivelisse then said "You know. It's not normally my thing to just hook up with random guys I meet at bars, but...you seem pretty cool, so I'll give you a chance."

"Really?" Jeremiah asked. Seeing Ivelisse nod her head, Jeremiah smiled and said "Great! How's about we start things off by letting me buy you a drink? Whatever you may want, it's on me."

"I'd like that," Ivelisse said, a smile starting to work its way across her face. Putting her pool cue stick back on the rack with the other cue sticks, Ivelisse said "But, before we do anything else, I think some introductions should be made here. I'm Ivelisse. Ivelisse Vélez" as she held out her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Ivelisse. My name's Jeremiah, Jeremiah Crane," the brunette said as he took and shook Ivelisse's hand, but not before planting a kiss on the back of it and then letting it go.

...

 _Present Day_

Ever since that fateful night at the bar, Jeremiah and Ivelisse had been in a relationship that, while it had its ups and downs, was one that both the brunette and the redhead would honestly admit was one of the best they had ever been in. After all, the only times there seemed to be problems would be when Jeremiah would try to worry over Ivelisse-as if the widely known Baddest Bitch in the Building _needed_ anyone to worry about her-but other than that, things were going just fine between the two.

 _'I just don't want to fuck things up between me and Ivey just because what Cat said..._ might _be true,'_ Jeremiah thought, his hand unconsciously moving up to grab the necklace that sat at the base of his throat. Not wanting to dwell on this any longer, Jeremiah rose the workout bench and went to go get his phone out of his locker. At that moment, all he wanted to do was call his girl, his Ivelisse, and just talk to her before he left the Temple for the evening.

 **OK. Now I know that this seems like a rather abrupt end to this one-shot, but I feel that I ended it in a good spot (because chances are if I didn't, this one-shot would've ended up becoming a monster of a read). Honestly after the bits that we've seen of Jeremiah and Ivelisse together, I hope we get to see more of them together before the end of LU's current season. And, *shrugs* who knows? Maybe if we do see more of these two together, I'll be able to write more stuff with these two in it. =3 So, I hope that everyone that gave this a read enjoyed it. Until my next updates and/or ?-shot, don't forget to R &R please. I wish you all love, good reading, a Merry Christmas (since it's this Sunday), and Happy Holidays. *waves* Laters! =)**


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